No More Ft. Hood Massacres

Five years ago, an Islamic supremacist in the U.S. Army based at Fort Hood, Texas turned his guns on comrades with murderous effect. He believed that, under shariah, he was divinely commanded to kill infidels before they could harm Muslims.

Yesterday, another serviceman based there did the same, although his motivations appear to involve a different kind of pathological disorder. While an investigation is still underway, he is believed to have been suffering from the effects of post-traumatic stress arising from combat in Iraq.

In both cases, the shooting stopped when the murderer was confronted with return fire. That would happen immediately if troops were permitted to carry their loaded service weapons on base. The armed forces’ ban on that practice should be revisited, before we have any more Fort Hood massacres.